LandPaths' Backyard Adventure - Crane Creek Regional Park

Tucked away in the hills just east of Sonoma State University is a 128 acre regional park that’s perfect for a quick afternoon escape. My wife and I headed out the other day for a quick afternoon hike. Getting to Crane Creek was easy as we travelled Petaluma Hill Road south past SSU and followed the signs to the park.

When we arrived, we headed to the picnic tables to enjoy our lunch before heading out to check out the park. It was here that I had my only negative experience with the park.

Within seconds of sitting down, I felt something crawling up my leg. When I looked down I found a large tick climbing my calf. I quickly removed it and moved up onto the table to finish lunch.

Happily it was the only tick we came across while we were out there though we heard from others on the trail they had all run into them as well.

After lunch, we headed out into the park for our short hike. We decided to take the Fiddleneck trail and quickly found ourselves overlooking the south Santa Rosa plain. The park sits above the plain in the rolling hills so as you crest a hill it often opens to a spectacular view of the plain.

On days like when we were there, you could also see the fog starting to fall over the hills in the distance filling in the valley below. It was because of that fog that a cool breeze chilled the air slightly but once we were hiking it was a refreshing feel.

From our view of the plain we descended into an oak grassland. The trail was well defined but the grass on either side has grown up waist high and changed to that California gold color I’ve come to love.

We stopped briefly to watch a raptor hover above the adjacent field awaiting the small movement of the grass as a rodent moved through. We watched as he abruptly dropped from the sky and hit the ground only to come up empty and start the process over again. 

There were still a few wildflowers growing along the sides of the trail but nothing compared to what the peak season is supposed to be like. We followed the Fiddleneck Trail to the Northern Loop cut off and through an old stand of Oak Trees.

We then crossed a dried creek bed and headed up to the base of a hill where an ocean of grass swayed. You could watch as the breeze hit one end of the field and slowly pushed its way across to the other side. 

We headed up the hill and to our best view of the hike. Sunset Trail overlook would be the perfect place to watch the sunset. It rises above the rest of the park and offers the best views west out onto Rohnert Park and north to Santa Rosa or south back across the park.

We paused for a view at the top to enjoy the view with another couple and their large German Shepherd (. After our pause we headed back down the trail and finished our circuit around the park and to the car. All told it took us about an hour and was just over two miles.

If you are in the Rohnert Park area, and need a quick connection with the land this is a great spot to head to. Oh, and I almost forgot, for those disc golfers out there it also offers a full 18 hole course.

I’ve never tried the sport before so I can’t say what kind of difficulty it is, but the scenery doesn’t get much better. So head on out and enjoy Crane Creek Regional Park.

So now it’s your turn to get outside and discover a backyard adventure. Go enjoy Crane Creek Regional Park or send us your own Backyard Adventure.

Backyard Adventures are a series of posts written by LandPaths to encourage Sonoma County residents to explore their own backyards. For more information, a calendar of local events or to submit your Backyard Adventure please visit www.landpaths.org